Over a cup of coffee at Jacque's

I love the time that is spent around a table sharing a mug of coffee with friends. Whether it is my table, that of a friend's, or a coffee joint... for conversation of our latest Devotional reading, our Journey with Christ - or just- catching up; sharing hopes and dreams, laughs or tears - it is a blessing to be able to share these times. Here is my spot... whatever it becomes... I hope it's a blessing - the glory is God's. Whatever we do "Don't touch the glory"!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

That
their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto
all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the
acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

A bit about knitting
Before we get into the analogy we need to know a bit about knitting if you aren't familiar with terms. Knitting, in a general sense, is a piece worked with one piece of yarn stitched ( hooked) over itself over and over in a variety of ways. Most common stitches are: knit (new stitch added from the back of the loop) and purl (new stitch added from the front of the loop). You can knit or purl stitches together (k2t, p2t) for design or strength to the piece. You can also Slip a stitch over another loop and only that loop stays on the needle, leaving it as one stitch. We typically know how many stitches we are to have in a section of our needles, as you knit there are stitches that fall off your needle, from time to time and we say that we, "dropped a stitch somewhere" and go searching for it when our count is off. If stitches are decreased through knitting or purling together or slipping a stitch, new stitches have to be added back in to keep the number of stitches right. For the purposes of this blog piece that's all the further we are going, this isn't a knitting lesson.

The Word in Colossians 2:2 tells us that our hearts are to be comforted, being knit together in love. I guess I see our church body (local or globally) as that piece that is being worked. God is knitting with His infinite yarn of love, perhaps we are the stitches, not just a stitch once but multiple times being knit in as HE uses us.

At some point in the piece we were knit in or purled in, really doesn't matter - both are essential to the beauty of the piece. There are times when we are knit together 2-6 of us experience something together that binds our hearts and we are all put into one stitch. A triumph or a tragedy, both add a detail to His piece He is working. These k2t or p2t then decrease the overall number of stitches in the piece, but God blesses that experience or grants mercy and grace and with that HE adds new stitches behind us to balance the piece again. Perhaps others are used in His work or souls turn to Him, all these are new stitches.

There are other times, for many reasons where a stitch comes off the needle. Perhaps out of our rebellion or spiritual carelessness, could be many things, we don't end up on the needle. That particular stitch that was ours is dropped. What happens to the piece? Does it go on into more beautiful rows? no sign of the dropped stitch? no, there is a whole where that stitch is to be.

I placed a stitch holder on the dropped stitch.

That stitch will continue to drop, down to the stitch that it was stitched upon. The one pictured went about 3 rows. In our analogy, perhaps that stitch (person it came to) will catch it and hold it, or will not notice it and pretty soon that stitch is undone too (that use God intended is lost also), so it goes down the column of stitches row by row. Til either a stitch catches it, maybe where it was knit together with other stitches, and holds it, or it unravels to the bottom of the piece. All the stitches next to these dropped stitches are still there, they are held to the next stitch by God's yarn of love, but there is a gap, there is just an empty column going down the piece of work. Is it forever lost? no, it is at the bottom of the piece, on the bottom row, waiting, it can be stitched back up with a crochet hook, worked back in, all the way back up. The Master can use His love (the yarn) and loop those stitches back in around the dropped yarn that is still on each row. He uses us again, to bring the beauty back to His piece of work. If we cooperate it can be beautiful again, restored for His purpose.

When we are knit together in love we are comforted, aren't we? We feel the love, and care of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. All of us together make a beautiful tapestry that The Father takes pleasure in every time He look at that piece of work. He will continue to show grace and mercy, we continue to be pliable and usable, that He can twist us, knit us, purl us, knit 2 or a handful of us together, decrease the stitch number and add...

As I sit and knit a blanket for my granddaughter, these are the thoughts that came... ramblings in my brain.... I'm sure there are theological holes, a theologian i am not... just knittin' and thinkin' ...maybe they blessed you too.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

I am still taking in the same book, I found another gem today. This isn't word for word so
I didn't " " it... I think new rooms are build for each grandchild too... we have big hearts :)

Your Room

When a new baby is born, a new room is built onto the Mother`s heart – and no one else occupies that room. It doesn’t have to be bigger or better than any other rooms, it’s just their’s. "In My Father’s house are many rooms", Jesus said, and one of those was added on the day you became His Child. That one is your’s! … He has it for you.. it is furnished by every moment you spend with Him... just the two of you, you and Your Father… your very own SistineChapel, where you meet Him in your divine journey together. Your journey, nobody can walk your journey, it too is yours. In the Cosmic Choir no one can sing your song… it’s your song with/for Him.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Coming to
recognize & experience God’s presence is a learned behavior. I can
cultivate it.My task is to meet
God in THIS moment.I am always
tempted to live outside this moment.When I do this, I lose my sense of God’s presence.

Sometimes
God feels far away for reasons I don't understand, those moments are
opportunities for me to learn.

Whenever I fail, I can
start again, right away.

No one
knows the full extent to which a human being can experience God’s presence.

My
desire for God ebbs and flows. God’s desire for me is always constant. ( He always wants to be in my present and
presence.)

Each
thought carries with it a spiritual charge that moves me closer, or a little
further away, from God.

Every aspect of my life is of genuine
interest to God.

My
path to experiencing God will not look quite like anyone else's.

-God is Closer Than You Think

John Ortberg

My assignment is to read this daily for 2 weeks. What precious truths to tuck into my mind. Gives a sense of love, hope, healing and consistency.

After a time of relaxing over Christmas and New Years, I always have a sense of wanting to do better at so many things. New year, New slate. As this book stated "God has my picture on his refrigerator". I've only started the book, but I love that concept.. It could be my photo or a project I made, He values me and my meager efforts. Like a parent thinks their child is "the Best"! When I don't do well or could do better, He encourages me to get up and try again. I guess that is my January feeling usually, try again, try to improve, try to be more like Christ and serve (as a Child of His, as a; wife, mom, Mimi, friends, church family...) like Christ would like me to. That is a high calling, a huge task, it could be overwhelming. But, He is walking with me, He understands me better than I understand myself (yikes/yeah). Is 41:10-14 (one of my life verses) speaks of God holding my right hand with His righteous right hand, I'm not to fear. That leads me to think that the bodily position for that to happen, is if we are not standing side by side, but face to face. Christ/God is standing face to face with me (with each of us) as I walk this path of life, encouraging me as I am striving to be a glory to Him. Not to bringing attention to myself, or serve self, but that people will see Christ through me.

Sometimes I give myself a to-do-better-at-list that is too large, but God knows what I am capable of, and so it's a day at a time and we will see where He leads, " My task is to meet
God in THIS moment. "

Sunday, November 23, 2014

I turned up that familiar road that fall afternoon, drove up that hill I so often walked. The street that held the houses of neighbors that were like aunts and uncles of sorts. Especially the Hawthorns across the street. Don and Irma Dell I was his Jacqueline Reneeeee! They left a box of graham crackers inside their side door incase they weren't home when I stopped over. If you know the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show, and the little girl next door that was the chatterbox, I think I was that little girl to them sometimes. That street was just a beautiful place, kids grew up together, parents grew older together too and one by one each has moved on...

As I sat in my car and watched, a young dad and son came up the sidewalk hand in hand. The little boy took off and ran ahead, through the grass, that I had played in and up onto the porch and threw open that old storm door. As he took ahold of that brass door knob of the black wooden door, struggling to open it, I could feel that cold metal in my hand too. It made me amazed at how powerful memories are.

toy drawer

As his dad helped him with the door and in he ran, I knew the brick floor of the foyer that he was running across. Was he running down the hall past the stack of drawers? Was the middle drawer their toy drawer too? Is the top drawer the tool drawer? Maybe he was heading through the kitchen and up the steps. Had he figured out that spot at the top, where you can hide behind that short wall and scare your sibling as they come down the hall? Which room is his? My room that used to face the old oak tree where the owl lived? Or Dawn's room at the top of the steps? It would be most appropriate for him to be in the boy's room, there are still bee-bees rolling around in there from their Daisy bee-bee gun days.

hiding corner

My parents moved in there before I was born, they lived there 50 some years. That is almost unheard of today. I lived there until I married. That home is the place where most of my childhood memories took place. From sitting around the kitchen table eating our chocolate ice cream before bed (which we had stirred into a shake in a bowl) Or popcorn, while dad read us a story from our Bible story book. A bedtime snack Always happened, dad was faithful at getting us our bedtime treat. We had our playroom in the basement with the alphabet scattered about the painted gray floor. If they take out that carpet will they see it? Will the kids use that little closet in the playroom as their library too? We added on the garage and patio. What a treat that was... I loved laying out there in the summer with my baby oil, foil mattress, and Seventeen magazine. The willow tree came and went in my time there, loved that tree. Pepper and Scamper were our cats that are laid to rest on the hill in the back corner of the yard.

living room - wooden cradle my grt grandpa made

There are so many sibling memories, many flicker in my mind just quickly, for an instant, then another. Doug and his tape recorder... It was such an amazing thing to be able to record your voice and play it back, that seems so funny now that we can do video and all... But we had more fun with a tape recorder and microphone. Doug did great sound effects . And he sang in the shower. Dave and I spent so much time in front of the fireplace listening to old radio shows with dad. Fibber McGee and Molly, The Shadow Knows, Amos and Andy... They were on cassettes, I'm not that old. But we listened to them over and over. We listened to so many stories on records, we didn't have a tv, so it was all imagination... Mary Poppins, Snow White and the Dwarfs in the diamond mine, Uncle Remuswas a favorite, as well as Peter Pan. Dawn was
8 yrs older than me, so my memories of her

where Mom and Dad were usually found reading.

are not so much at the house, but of her going other places, friends, dating ect. Our friendship flourished more after I was married with kids. One by one my siblings married and I was there alone with mom and dad, coming home to them sitting in the back room reading or mom knitting something. I would come in and they would put their books down and pick up magazines, they knew I would sit and yack about whatever before bed.

This address also holds the memory of us three kids meeting there to tell mom and dad of Doug's accident and death. Telling them there in the front yard, as they knew something was wrong when we all showed up at once, will forever b ingrained in my memory. We grieved there together in the living room as family and friends came and went. It just felt good to be at home together. The house brought comfort I thought. It was there that Mom waged her battle with cancer. Us kids were sleeping there once again, in a very different role. There was nowhere else we would rather be though. It was a very hard time, but a time that we pulled together and felt the prayers and witnessed the grace and strength that God gives, sometimes an hour at a time. As the days went on and a few years, it came time to start packing things up. Time for a new place for mom and dad. What to sell, what to give away, what to keep?

Things that belonged to ancestors that us kids had never met, but feel like we know. Who's was this? Who made this? Things that mean nothing to others but have sentimental value to us. As we moved mom and dad into their new duplex it was heart wrenching at times, but I began to realize that the duplex was feeling like their home now, not home in the sense of "my home" maybe, but home is where they are. The items they chose to take with them add to it being "their place". While in my mind 110 S Hamilton will always be as it was last spring, before it all started. Home is where your loved ones are and as more of them pass into eternity, that will be the home that we will reunite in. This journey made me think about my home here for my family, the memories they have and are making... I don't think I have been very purposeful in making memories, but that's the good/bad thing about memories, they happen no matter if we try or not... The good and the bad... That makes up life... That molds us into who we are... then God uses those experiences for us to relate to others going through similar circumstances.

This was a long one, a bit rambling, but thoughts that I have had rolling around in my head... Wanted to get them down. Judy, thanks for the push, two years and I got a new post done.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

This Thanksgiving there is so much to think of and so much to be thankful for. New meaning to "family" has been reminded to me once again. The out the door and off to work, school, ect routine... back home to the rush to get something to eat and everyone is everywhere... try to connect and off to bed to do it all again... life.Then one day you get one of those phone calls that stops your heart, I've experienced it before, you are never prepared for what you hear on the other end. It can drop you to your knees, spring you into action and prayer at the same time. I'm so thankful that God spared Whittney on the 12th. So thankful that He still has a plan for her, so thankful that we still get to enjoy her laugh, smile, sweetness and gentle spirit. A car attempted to cross the road she was taking and t-boned into her car. not a second too soon or a second too late, but right at the moment God intended. It took her for a spin, into a guardrail and drove her into a deep ditch, but we are so thankful it never rolled and that it didn't directly hit her door panel. When I arrived they were cutting her door off to get her out, I was able to talk with her, while she waited with her oxygen going, it was so good to see with my own eyes that she was ok. Then once out it was off to Methodist ER. Amazingly everything came out ok, nothing broken or internal injury.
The therapy for muscle damage has been painful for her, but we will take that!! Last Sunday we took our family pictures that we had scheduled few weeks ago. It just kept hitting me that week of how different my week could have been, so thankful we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving together as a complete family. ...and Miss Paisley is 5 months :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Our journey as parents turned a corner on June 18th and grew another path... grand-parenting. I had thought some of how it would be... my baby having a baby... but when it came down to it I was equally relieved that they were both ok... Leah and baby. It was a bit before they brought Paisley into the room for us to see, but that was ok - I was glad to see Leah and know that she was alright. Then we got to see and hold Paisley Jenae. (Jenae is Leah's middle name - I'm glad she likes it that well, to give it to her daughter too :) )

We waited and waited until finally Devon came and said we could come back and see them

Monday, June 11, 2012

I thought I had posted this... I wrote this up this past year while doing our small group Bible Study of John. It was speaking of loss and how we deal with it. It asked group members to speak of a time of loss in their life. My brother was taken from this life in a motorcycle accident. I many ways it changed and shaped my life from then on. One of those things you don't see coming, have no choice of whether to go through it or not, but We know that God uses all things for good and for His glory and we rest in that truth.

Two months is
too little, they let him go47 is too
young to let go to a quick decision, by another, to go ahead and go...(Oct. 2006)They had no sudden healing To think that providenceWould take a child from his mother, while she prays,to take a son, brother, father, and grandfather, in the prime of time when he was
getting onhis feet is appallingWho told us we'd be rescuedWhat has changed andWhy should we be saved from nightmaresWhy
to we think we are to be spared of heart ache and tragedy.Why do we not
look for and see God's
plan is so bigger and better than ours.His uses badthings
and brings Glory and salvation.We're asking why this happens to usWho have died to live, it's unfairThis is what it means to be heldI was held by so many, God, Craig, my girls, my Peoria church family.The hole was largeand seemed to only grow with dysfunction. How it feels when the sacred is torn from your lifeAnd you surviveThis is what it is to be loved and to knowThat the promise was, when everything fell,We'd be heldIt was a quiet time and a gentle time with God and my hand was closed from fear for a season.Afraid of whatelse
God would take or require of me.But thru timeGod
showed me how He held and provided for me to grow to see how He was there and in control andhelping
me through the darkest time I hadexperienced.This hand is bitternessWe want to taste it andLet the hatred numb our sorrowsThe wise hand opens slowlyTo lilies of the valley and tomorrowGradually I was able to open myfingers again and feel that I did trust God to takeme through whatever rivers He brought me to. IS 43

This is what it means to be heldHow it feels, when the sacred is torn from your lifeused Isaiah
to speak and comfort me And you surviveThen the ministry opportunity came along and Godthrough
that Is 41 & 43 were huge,so
manypromises
to Israel and, I feel, to believers who reallyplace
their lives in His "righteous right hand" .This is what it is to be loved and to knowThat the promise was, when everything fell,We'd be heldI
am still held, continually healing from this, andother,
woundings of life. But I am so blessed to haveexperienced
this suffering, and the experience of"when
everything falls" He really does Hold me! If hope if born of sufferingIf this is only the beginningCan we not wait for one hourWatching for our SaviorHe provides
others to Hold me as well.Can I
not be
willing to suffer, that I can learn from thesuffering,
so that I can then be there to hold otherswhen
they come into suffering times of their lives.This is what it means to be heldHow it feels, when the sacred is torn from your lifeAnd you surviveI
survived to serve.This is what it is to be loved and to knowThat the promise was, when everything fell,We'd be held

That is what it is to be loved (allowed to suffer)

that I might experience the promises
and believe,

so
that I can serve, be held, and hold.

I knew I was healing when I could physically and then heart felt
(but also, not without human trepidation) sing this hymn.

I place myself
in Jesus hands and there abide forever, no grief nor joys can loose the bands... and let Him do with
me His will, what He will do will please me....I cleave to Him with strong faith still and hope (know) that
He will bless me...He will not break the Word He spake, so confidence in Him
I'll take, and praise Him forever more.Zion's Harp 177